He's right where he needs to be in Russia. The U.S. can't do jack sh*t, Putin gets to show what a big man he is to the world and his own people, and it greatly highlights the erosion of our basic rights, especially to folks from the Cold War era. Russia wins a huge PR coup by becoming a safe haven for persecuted U.S. whistleblowers.

Why don't you FARK Fascists comment on actual NEWS like the USA is censoring the guardian website from your soldiers???

The USA has just gone FULL FASCIST and Fark is silent... WAKE UP FARKERS you have no free speech, no privacy and American sheep soldiers are war criminals that can't even be trusted with the truth by your own government!??!

Correa declared that the safe conduct pass issued by Ecuador's London consul - in collaboration with Assange - was unauthorised, after other Ecuadorean diplomats privately said the WikiLeaks founder could be perceived as "running the show".

The pass was canceled as a display of authority by Correa - it had nothing to do with whether the pass was authorized or not. He wanted to publicly show that he's in charge, and it doesn't really matter what it is so long as he exerts his position somehow. It's a classical response for a particular personality archetype.

super_grass:As with everything from education to to gun violence to healthcare, America is doing pretty damned good if you compare it with third world countries instead of just first world ones.

Actually, taking into account many different social factors, the U.S. is doing pretty darned good, even compared to the first world. From the UN Human Development project -

"The Human Development Index (HDI) is a composite statistic of life expectancy, education, and income indices used to rank countries into four tiers of human development. It was created by the Pakistani economist Mahbub ul Haqand the Indian economist Amartya Senin 1990[1]and was published by the United Nations Development Programme."

(note: greener is better)

Look I know you want to believe the U.S. is the horrible great satan. Home of oppression, poverty, suffering and fascism. Because your college professor with the cool ponytail said so. I shrug, and tell you it simply flat out is factually not true. It's okay to admit the U.S. just isn't so bad - we won't revoke your enlightened progressive card for it.

aardwolf:Why don't you FARK Fascists comment on actual NEWS like the USA is censoring the guardian website from your soldiers???

The USA has just gone FULL FASCIST and Fark is silent... WAKE UP FARKERS you have no free speech, no privacy and American sheep soldiers are war criminals that can't even be trusted with the truth by your own government!??!

I can see it now, Snowden is really a deep cover mole trying to assassinate Assange, they picked up some info that Julian was heading to Hong Kong and that's why they moved so fast, but that info was faulty so now Snowden is moving on to get to Ecuador.

tortilla burger:Correa declared that the safe conduct pass issued by Ecuador's London consul - in collaboration with Assange - was unauthorised, after other Ecuadorean diplomats privately said the WikiLeaks founder could be perceived as "running the show".

The pass was canceled as a display of authority by Correa - it had nothing to do with whether the pass was authorized or not. He wanted to publicly show that he's in charge, and it doesn't really matter what it is so long as he exerts his position somehow. It's a classical response for a particular personality archetype.

This, basically. Remember, we're talking about the same guy that tossed our threat back in our faces, along with an offer to provide human rights education subsidies to us. The guy sounds like he has a near-terminal Napoleon complex.

The irony, of course, is that there are so many people lauding Correa and Ecuador as some sort of bastion of free speech and human rights. Never mind that Correa bankrupted the country's largest newspaper and had the editorial board imprisoned for publishing an editorial against him.

On a side note, why is Assange now using the majestic plural? Must confess, if I were this boy's parent, I'd be doing everything I could to bring him home [yes, to face trial] and keep him as far away from Mr. Assange as possible.